King
by Biel N. Mouresat
Summary: Read.
1. Chapter 1

**I tend to start writing stories and then, due to my laziness, leave them incomplete. It may take me a while to finish this story, along with the other two that I have up so far, so if you are interested in my stories then I sincerely apologize for my laziness :(. But, please, bear with me. I'll get there eventually. By the way, there is a part in this chapter where I make one of the characters speak in Italian. I don't speak Italian myself, at least not fluently and deffinitely not grammatically correct, so if any of you reading this _actually _speak Italian and would like to correct my mistakes, this is what I was attempting to have the character say **"Beautiful! I got to see my mother and my father. My whole family! And...I even met a beautiful girl."**. Thank you, hope you enjoy :)**

.  
.

**_This is for the ones that try so hard, but always fail._**

A petite brunette walked down the rainy streets of Seattle, shoulders hunched with a tattered hoodie pulled above her brown locks. Her red converse splashed noiselessly, ever so often, in the water that had accumulated enough to form puddles on the cement below.

She tucked a small hand into her sweater pocket and brought out a white phone that had began to ring obnoxiously. Rolling her eyes under her sunglasses, she answered the irate middle-aged man on the other end of the line.

"Hello?"

She stopped at the corner of the intersection and waited for the red dots in the shape of a hand to unmerge, take on a paler hue and merge back into the shape of a person.

"Yes, Mr. DiBenedetto, I know what time it is." Quickly glancing down from the grey sky, she noticed people beginning to cross the street. "No, Mr. DiBenedetto, I don't do this on purpose."

"Yes, I-" She stopped cold. Upon reaching 5th Avenue, she witnessed a young mother helping her four year old daughter hop over a threatening puddle, big hand holding the tiny one in hers securely. Tiny feet covered in pink booties dangled in the midair for a few seconds as the mother dared not to look away from her small companion until pink booties were safely over the water and making a secure landing on the sidewalk in front of them. Ashley couldn't fight the feeling of envy that rose inside of her chest.

Her eyes stung so she blinked quickly. She choked up so she cleared her throat. "I, uh-I'll-I'll get there when I get there."

Not even bothering to say goodbye, she slammed the phone shut and tossed it at the wet ground to her left into oncoming traffic. Out of anger. Out of resentment. Mainly because she wished her mother was there to hold her hand. But, God only knew where the hell she was.

She watched silently as a taxi cab sped on by, its wheels steamrolling right over the white technological device. Pulverizing the hard work of some poor factory workers somewhere on the other side of the world.

Number three this month.

She snapped her head up and came eye to eye with a snobby-looking blonde woman in a fur coat.

"_What_ are you looking at?"

The woman frowned and directed a disapproving _'humph'_ at Ashley's behavior before simply continuing to walk along. But, not before shooting her nose pointedly up towards the sky.

_Yeah, she was most definitely a snob._

Bringing her breathing back down to normal, Ashley rubbed one eye sleepily before walking the ten feet that remained between her and _Amore Mio_. Her place of employment and, sadly, the only place she felt welcome and at peace with herself.

She reached the glass door with the green, plastic, stick-on letters that displayed the cafe's name. She took a deep breath and begun her routine ritual of counting up to three-hundred seconds (Mississippis included, of course) before going inside, securing her tardy time at exactly thirty minutes past what she was due. It never failed.

She had only counted up to two-hundred forty nine Mississippi before the awning above came loose and the water that had previously gathered up there from rainy days that had yet to cease came pouring down atop her. The strength with which gravity chose to pull the water back down to the earth forced her hood back and off her head revealing a beautiful mane of curly brown hair. Hair which soon became soaked as well.

Laughter erupted from somewhere to her immediate right as a gaggle of girls she recognized from school walked out of the cafe, coffees in hand.

"At least _that_ will make up for all the showers you miss."

The lovely cat-like voice of Regina Ray meowed out. Who wouldn't want to go a day without hearing her? A second wave of laughter sprung out at the girl's comment.

Ashley simply looked after them with sad eyes, head tilted in their direction and a sloppy defeated smile begun to form on her delicate lips. Believing that everything wrong in her life was fully deserved, she nodded her head-to the girls' retreating backs-in acceptance of the cards life seemed to have dealt her with.

"Seems about right." She rasped out.

Sighing deeply, she pulled open the glass door. One foot barely past the threshold, she was greeted by a familiar clanking of bells above her head and an apron being thrown at her face.

"Ashahlee! Terty minotes tardee ahggen? Yer lucky ah dun fire you all-reddy."

"Yes, Mr. D. I know. I'm sorry."

She reached up a small hand and removed the faded orange fabric currently blinding her before giving an over exaggerated bow to the forty-eight year old Italian man and his very Italian mustache. Not expecting to have the short stocky man snatch the apron out of her hands and repeatedly smack her over the head with it for her antics, she stumbled back in surprise until her back was met by a glass door.

"Cut dah crap Ashahlee. En you heng up on me now? Whas deese about?"

What made Ashley feel guilty-as she straightened up and met her dark chocolate eyes with his-wasn't even the fact that she had been late on purpose for the umpteenth time simply to give the man a hard time. Nor was it the fact that she was in the process of being reprimanded by him. No. It was the fact that the man wasn't even angry, he just appeared a little sad. Disappointed even. Disappointed in her.

It tugged at her heart strings. It had to be the accent.

"I-I know. I'm…sorry. You just-you just happened to catch me at a bad time, Mr. D. Really, it's nothing personal." She had to advert her eyes not to have her heart break at the man's saddened eyes for having been hung up on.

"You no…I henga up on mah motha right befoa she pased away." Ashley ticked off one thousand and one in her imaginary wall labeled _'I henga up on ma motha'_ story.

"Yeah…yeah, I know Mr. D." She paused to look down at her shoes, in shame maybe, before facing her boss again with a small smile gracing her features. "But see-you see-_you_ are _not_ dead. Yet." That was Ashley's small attempt at lightening the mood. Her and Mr. DiBenedetto's. She knew he had never been able to forgive himself for arguing with his mother moments before she died. When asked what she died of, he would always respond with "_shea pased away from a broken hart_".

On Ashley's part, quite frankly, she was never in the mood to talk about mothers.

Several seconds passed in an awkward silence. Mr. DiBenedetto's left eyebrow rose slowly and the lack of emotion on his face only further pointed to the fact that he was not at all amused with her comment. Ashley gritted her teeth-awkward smile still in place-and swallowed nervously before shaking her head.

"Sooo…" She clasped her hands behind her back, rocked on the balls of her feet and took a moment to have her eyes wander the entire shop, studying the costumers that occupied the green wooden chairs, before her eyes came to rest on Mr. DiBenedetto's once more.

At the mention of work, the emotion came back to his face in a flash. Almost as if he'd slipped on a mask with a happy expression over his previous one. His eyes taking on their usual glint that brought out Ashley's own smile.

"Of course, of course! Go right ahed Ashahlee."

Ashley's smile grew and she nodded her head at the middle-aged man. She put her hands on the back of her sweater and pulled it up, off, and over her head. Shirt rising somewhat past her navel in the process.

Placing the ripped orange string around her tanned neck, Ashley followed Mr. DiBenedetto past the plastic double doors leading into the kitchen. After punching in her time card, she waltzed back outside and sat on a stool behind the counter. Eyes closed, head on one hand, and her elbow resting on the cool metal surface below.

"Ashahlee!"

Her eyes snapped open wide as she was enveloped in a bear hug by an enormous pair of bulky arms. After she was set back down on the stool like a puppet, she spun around to see who the offender had been. Her frown let up as she was met by cool green eyes that she recognized immediately.

"Maximo! Hey, I didn't know you were back from Italy already! How was it?"

"Bellisimo! Vidi a la mia madre e mio padre…tutta la mia famiglia!" The smile slowly fell from Ashley's face and was replace by a confused frown and a lost look in her eyes. She racked her brain in the hopes of finding the smallest bit of Italian that she may have picked up in the years of having worked at _Amore Mio_ to help her decipher what the hell Maximo was saying. No such miracle occurred. "E…ho incontrato una bella-"

"Maximo!" Ashley, shaking her head from side to side, stopped him from going any further in his story. He jumped a slight before giving Ashley a confused and questioning look. "I…have…NO idea what it is you're saying, man."

She let out a soft chuckle-the most sincere one she'd let out that whole day so far-as he gave her a goofy smile, finally understanding the reason for her outburst and finding it funny himself. He slapped a burly hand down on her small shoulder. Her body slouching down under its weight.

"Am sorry, Ashahlee. Is hard to remind meh that am back in deh States aggen." The Italian born and raised man glanced down, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Ashley assumed they were happy thoughts from the goofy smile that was still in place. He shook his head before looking back up at his co-worker. "I promiss to unly speak in inglish from now on. Unteal I teach you to speak Italian, yes?"

"Most definitely, Maximo. I'm looking forward to those Italian classes you promised me for my birthday."

Ashley smiled as he gave her a playful shove on the shoulder. They both knew they were more likely to see Mr. DiBenedetto without his beloved mustache before ever hearing Ashley speak a single word of Italian.

"Of course, Ashahlee. But…first theng's first. Dutee calls meh friend." Maximo patted her shoulder and nodded his head somewhere in the direction behind her.

Ashley turned to look at an unattended pair consisting of a mother and son occupying a window-side booth. Ashley smiled redirecting her gaze back to Maximo and pointed toward the tables. "Alrighty, then. We'll catch up later."

Grabbing a pad and slipping a pencil behind one ear, she walked off towards booth.

"Hello," Ashley put on the cheeriest voice she could muster along with the cheesiest smile she could pull off. "My name is Ashley and-"

"At last! I think I'm rooted to this seat by now." The woman huffed out in a less then pleasant tone. Ashley's façade immediately slipped off and she bit the inside of her cheek looking down at her yellow note pad in one hand and fiddling with her pencil in the other. "My son and I have been sitting here for the past half-hour and that oaf over there does nothing but scratch his head at everything we tell him."

She was referring to Francesco, Mr. DiBenedetto's newest employee. He was fresh out of Italy and spoke three sentences in English: _"Hello, meh name is Francesco, what will you eat?"_, _"Am new here."_, and _"Dis is a beautehful country!"_.

How he managed to properly serve as many tables as he did was beyond Ashley's comprehension. The woman leaned in closer to Ashley. "Is he legal?"

Ashley's eyes widened the slightest and her jaw dropped open to reveal a pink tongue nervously moving around as it attempted to form the right response to a somewhat rude question. Had Ashley's tongue managed to actually do it's job, it wouldn't have mattered in the slightest as the woman waited for no response and rambled on and on about lousy service. Every now and then, Ashley would glance at the boy who sat across from the woman. He looked no older than fifteen and as embarrassed as Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl.

Ashley cleared her throat and went back to looking at her notepad while she waited for the woman to finish her rant. "Maybe if you stopped talking and actually ordered your food..."

She cut herself off realizing she'd said that out loud. A nervous giggle escaped her lips as she adverted her eyes from the woman's death stare choosing instead to focus on her shoes. Several agonizingly long and silent seconds passed on. They felt like hours. She was sure that if she strained her ears hard enough, she'd be able to hear the woman's blood boiling.

"Well…" Ashley's eyes snapped back to the human wasp at the sound of her voice. She was startled to find the woman was now on her feet towering over her, it caused Ashley to take one or two steps back cautiously. "When I return from the loo-" British. No wonder. Ashley wondered how she'd missed the strong accent the woman actually carried when she spoke. "-I expect our food served and ready to eat."

The woman brushed past her, not even caring that she bumped into her causing her to drop her pencil and notepad. Straightening up after retrieving her things from the floor, she looked down at the nervous teenager waiting for him to place the orders. "Um, we'll just have two specials and two fizzy drinks, thank you."

"Fizzy drinks?" Ashley scrunched her face at him.

"Oh, um. Pop." She shook her head still not understanding.

"You mean, like, pop rocks?" _How the hell do you drink pop rocks?_ The British. Making everything difficult.

"No…um, soda. You know, like Coca-Cola, Sprite…?"

Ashley rolled her eyes feeling stupid. "Ohhhhh, okay. Gotcha. Anything else you would like? A desert maybe?"

_How about something to remove the stick up your mom's ass?_ _She probably had it surgically super glued in there._

Ashley smirked to herself as that thought crossed her mind before catching the boy's deer-caught-in-headlights look. For a split second, Ashley feared she'd said that out loud as well instead of to herself.

"You won't spit in our food will you?" Her perfectly plucked eyebrow shot up. She didn't know whether to be amused or sympathetic towards the kid. The look on his face told her it wouldn't be the first time it happened to him. "Well...please don't spit in our food."

Ashley looked from the boy, to her pad, to the cars outside, and then to the boy once more. She repeated this about three times making the boy think she was really debating whether or not to spit in their meal before giving him a reassuring smile and walking off towards the kitchen counter.

"Frankie! Table 10, new order!" She ripped the yellow paper and hung it from one of the many upside down hooks.

She took a seat on one of the scattered stools nearby and took out her iPod while she waited for the food to be prepared. Skimming through her pictures, she stopped on one that-no matter how long or how many times she looked at it-always seemed to cause her heart to accelerate and a cheesy smile to grow on her face.

It was summer time and it was taken at the beach. The sun shinning brightly in the back. She stood in a bikini with a blonde goddess by her side. Arms wrapped around one another pulling off the goofiest faces possible.

Setting the apparatus down on her lap, she pulled out the real reason for her tardiness that day. A white velvet box snuggled a gorgeous engagement ring in its center. She couldn't believe she'd pulled it off. Five months of saving up and she finally had it. Now, all she had to do was propose.

Senior year was fast approaching and she didn't want to waste any before after graduation. Screw soul searching or trying to find yourself or looking for _the one_. She had all three locked down.

As for college? That was sand from another beach.

_Ding!_

"Order up!"

The desk bell broke Ashley from her reverie and she quickly stood up. Balancing a plate in each hand, she headed over to the Queen Bee and her larva.

"Here you go ma'm. Hope-"

"Ma'm?" She sounded outraged. "Humph. Ashley, is it? I'm only old enough to be your sister, darling."

_Yeah, bet if we cut your ass we'd find more rings on you than on a bristlecone pine._

"Of course, my apologies. Will that be all?"

"Just one more thing. Do leave our presence so we may enjoy our meal, yes?" The aggravated teen ground her teeth but smiled regardless.

"Of course. Enjoy your meal," She turned on her heel and called softly over her shoulder. "Ma'm."

After hearing the old bag gasp in annoyance, she returned to the counter with a satisfied smile.

Now, _that _level of crap Ashley knew she did not deserve.

* * *

_Drum, drum, drum._

Ashley looked at the clock hanging across the restaurant from her.

It read _8:50_.

_Drum, drum, drum_.

The cafe was vacant. Not even the mice that inhabited the kitchen-Mr. DiBenedetto was close friends with the health inspector-were stirring. According to job rules, however, she had to wait precisely until the clock struck _9:00_ to close the place down. Mr. DiBenedetto would go as far as checking the time stamp on the security videos to make sure his rules remained the law within his establishment.

_Drum, drum, drum_.

Ten more minutes to go.

_Drum, drum__-_

Ceasing her fingers mid-drum, she decided to ring her girl up. Maybe suggest a movie and dinner afterwards rather than just showing up at her house after work. The perfect restaurant for the occasion had just invaded her mind. She reached across the counter and grabbed the cafe phone.

_Ring…ring…ring…_

Ashley let an exasperated breath of air. _Come on, pick up. _

_Ring…ring…ri__-_

_"Hey!" _The sound of her girlfriend's voice finally answering brought her to jump up from her stool in excitement.

"Hey! Baby-"

_"Juuuust kidding. I'm not really answering the phone. I'm probably busy so leave a message and I'll get back to ya whenever I can."_

Ashley huffed and plopped back down on her seat as she pulled the phone away from her ear. Setting the phone back down on its hook she scrunched her eyes and wondered why she wasn't answering the phone. When Ashley called, she never let it ring more than once. Unless they'd had an argument.

Remembering that she had a game tonight she decided to try her mom who made it a habit of always attended each and every single one of her children's extra curricular activities.

_Ring…ring…ring…_

She looked once more at the clock. _8:53._ Seven more minutes to go.

_"Hello?"_

"Matt?" Ashley scrunched her eyebrows together as she recognized the teenage boy's voice. She wondered if she'd dialed their home phone instead of their mom's cell phone.

_"Oh, hey Ashley!"_

"Hey, Matt. Sorry, I meant to call your mom's cell but do you know if-"

_"It is but she's letting me borrow it cause I lost mine." _She thought it was too quiet on the other line for him to be at the volleyball game with his mom. Actually, she thought she might have even heard moaning coming from a television nearby. She heard Matthew give an embarrassed laugh before moans were silenced by the mute button. _"Whoa, sorry about that…"_

"Right. Um, anyway, do you know where your sister is?"

_"I don't know. Probably still at the game. My mom left early 'cause she got a call from her job."_

"Oh, okay. Thanks, Mattie."

_"Yeah, no prob. She's probably on her way home already, I mean, the game _should_ be over by now."_

"Yeah, ok. Matt?"

"_Yeaap?"_

"Stop watching porn." She hung up the phone before he had a chance to reply and chanced a look at the far wall. The clock's hands now read _8:55_.

"Moooooove!" The clock's big hand moved to point at the _56_. She scoffed. "Screw it."

She reached down below the counter and pulled out a 'Closed' sign. As she made her way around the counter she heard the all too familiar clanking of bells.

"Hey. I am so sorry, I know it's late but can I just order _one_ little thing?"

_Maybe if I ignore her she'll leave._

Ashley threw her head back and locked her eyes on the ceiling above her as if it were the most fascinating thing in the world. She even let her mouth drop open to give her a stupid far-off look.

"Um, excuse me?" Ashley continued her staring contest with the ceiling and even let her mouth drop open to give her a stupid far-off look. "Are you deaf or something?"

Ashley rolled her eyes and brought her eyes down to meet the wall opposite where she stood. She needed to get a move on and this was wasting her time.

"Noooo. Are you dense? Take a hint." Ashley walked around the counter not even bother to glance at the intruder. "And a hike while you're at it. We're closed." She emphasized her statement by slapping the sign down hard on the glass door. She spun around to bring her eyes to face her newest headache.

Her eyes became a bit more alert and she unconsciously straightened up from her usual slouched position. Her eyebrows twitched and the annoyed look on her face faltered ever so slightly. She took in the site before her. Boy, was it ever a site.

She was a drop-dead gorgeous blonde bombshell if she'd ever seen one. A little taller than Ashley herself with the most captivating cerulean eyes she'd ever seen. Her mouth went dry and Ashley knew she had to clear her throat in order to speak.

"Um, sorry but, we're closed."

"You close at nine. It's only _8:58_." Ashley rolled her eyes at that comment. Screw looks. This girl came off as a smartass.

"Well, ain't that just peachy? Get out." She deadpanned. You couldn't really blame her. She was late for a date with her destiny and this girl just had to have the munchies for a biscuit.

"No." The blonde said in a defiant tone as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. The brunette had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing at the girl's faux badass attitude. Ashley mimicked her arm movement and leaned back against the glass staring her down.

"Come on, please?" She cracked and began begging like a puppy, bringing her hands down clasped in front of her and everything. Her voice came out softer now and a lot sweeter. "You have two minutes."

Ashley had to mentally shake the thought of wanting to give in to her. She smirked. "One now."

"Oh. My God. Whatever. Please?" Ashley simply continued to lean against the door and looked up the clock, ignoring the girl's pleas. She began counting down.

"Five…four…three…two…one." She put on a huge smile and looked back at the blonde. Now she really did seem pissed off. "_Now_ we're closed. Get out."

"Screw you!"

* * *

Ashley sat in the backseat of a taxi-cab counting the money she had in her wallet.

"We're here miss."

She looked up and stuck her head out the window. They were parked right behind Madison High School facing the track and field. The field's lights were all turned off save for one on the farthest corner. Almost certain she'd spotted her girlfriend's car nearby, she unlocked her door and stepped out of the cab before sticking her head back in through the passenger side window.

"Hey, do you think you could wait a couple minutes? I won't take long, promise."

"Sure, but you might wanna hurry little lady. The meter's still runnin'."

"Yeah, yeah, no prob. I'll pay you extra. Just hang on."

With a reassuring nod from the driver, Ashley took off in search of her-hopefully-future fiancé. Walking towards the bleachers in the farthest corner where the one light still burned, she began to wish she hadn't murdered her phone. She could really use it right about now.

Several minutes passed and she found herself sitting on the bleachers playing with the velvet box.

"Dammit." She growled out in frustration and sighed in defeat.

She stood up and stretched before descending the bleachers to make her way back to the awaiting cab. As her feet touched the track, a soft laugh somewhere off in the distance caught her attention and made her turn around. She would recognize that laugh anywhere. A second voice drew her in and then moaning began to make itself heard. Nestling the box safely back into her sweater pocket. Her heart began to pound to the point where it hurt as she walked in the direction of the noises.

The giggling growing louder and more mocking with each step. Turning a corner, she stopped as she came face to face with her destiny. Not necessarily the one she hoped for. Actually, not at all what she'd hoped for nor expected. But, it was the one she'd been dealt.

The love of her life.

Her soul mate, her everything stood a few feet away.

Her back was pinned to the brick wall as her legs wrapped tighter and tighter around his waist. _His_ waist, not hers. His hands ran through her dirty blonde hair as his lips sucked hungrily at her neck. _His_ hands and _his_ lips. Not Ashley's. She didn't even have to look down to notice his pants were resting at his ankles.

All it took was hearing one of her moans and a whispered _"I love you"_ fall from her lips to have Ashley turn away, hot tears cascading down her face, hastily trying to run away from this nightmare.

Not watching were she was going-and not entirely caring either-she crashed straight into one of the blue graffitied school trash cans.

Stumbling a bit but catching herself before falling, Ashley walked quickly past the fallen bin and began to create as much distance as possible between herself and her broken heart.

"Oh, my God. Ashley..."

_Ignore it. _

"Ashley!"

The back of her sweater got caught on a wire sticking out from the fence surrounding the field as she tried to turn the corner too fast.

"Fuck…" She tugged effortlessly at her hoodie. It wasn't coming loose and she was getting closer. Tears now completely impairing her vision. She gritted her teeth. "God. Damn it." Foot pushing off the fence, she tugged with all her might once more. A ripping noise announced her freedom as she fell forward onto the track.

"Ash-" She was kneeling over her, hands reaching out to help her up.

"Get off me!" Ashley's strangled cry broke the silence that had befallen the field as it echoed, seemingly, endlessly. She recoiled upon feeling her hands touching her. They literally burned. She quickly got back up. Stumbling a little here and there. Not even bothering to push the girl's hands off her, she started off for the field's exit.

"Wait just one second! PLEASE!" Trembling hands reached out once more. Tugging and pleading at the same time.

"Gina. Get. Off. Of me." She really could only speak in two ways at the moment. Screaming or through her teeth. Either way she was seething and the fact that she was crying for the first time in almost six years wasn't helping at all. Hell she wasn't crying, she was bawling her eyes out.

"No, no. Please. Look, just let me explain-"

"Explain? Explain what Gina?" It was one of those moments where anything but screaming was really inappropriate. "Explain what? How you were off fucking that retard?"

Not being able to hold it in any longer, she launched her fist against the brick wall. She hurt Gina shriek out in horror. She wouldn't lie, it hurt like hell but it was either the wall or Gina's face. She'd gnaw her own foot off before hitting her. Never her.

"Baby! Don't do that!" Gina grabbed hold of Ashley's bleeding hand before it struck another blow at the wall.

The love that was usually radiating off of Ashley whenever she was in her presence, or speaking of her, or even thinking of her was gone. It made all the stitches from her heart come loose as Ashley pulled her hand away from her grip. Disgust etched on her face and hatred seeped from her eyes.

"Shut up."

Needing to lean on something for support, Ashley leaned her forehead against her previous punching bag. She place her hands desperately against the wall as she gasped for air. She hated crying. She began hoping that somehow she could push through the wall and be swallowed by it.

She would take being struck by lighting right about now. Her anger seemed to fade the smallest amount and her voice came out sounding too broken for her liking. "Gina…how could you-just-"

"Everything alright, _babe_?" Ashley could hear the mocking tone in his voice as he mumbled out the term of endearment. She clenched her jaw and balled her fists immediately turning to head in his direction but she was met by Gina clinging to her front.

"Please, please, baby. Baby, just stop..." She whispered in a soft, broken voice for her to just calm down. Gina was now crying just as bad as Ashley.

"Your _ex_ giving you trouble?"

_Ex?_

Ashley struggled against Gina's grip and lunged forward. She had to wrap her arms completely around Ashley's torso to get a hold of her.

"Darren, screw off!"

Darren took a look at the brunette that was currently being held back and smirked. He knew who she was. Ashley Davies. He'd had her for several classes since the ninth grade. She was probably the kindest person he'd ever met. She was one of the few people who had never been rude towards him. She'd even let him copy her homework on several occasions.

He admired her for the simple fact that for someone who seemed to have the worst family history in town, Ashley was always very loving and caring to those few who were close to her. Specially Gina. That girl was her world.

He had to admit that a small part of him felt bad for what he'd done to her. But another part of him, the part that had wanted to bang the hell out of Gina Cody since the moment he laid eyes on her, couldn't give a rat's ass. Either way, Ashley's girlfriend was an easy whore and she would have found out sooner or later.

The girl looked like she could murder someone at the moment and quite frankly he was already bored with the whole situation.

"Whatever." He chuckled and turned around buckling his belt back on as he made his way to his truck.

"Didn't I tell you to get off me?" Ashley screamed swatting Gina's hands from her sweater. Gina shook her head disbelievingly at herself. The reality of everything she'd been doing for the past months, everything she'd done, just now sinking in ash she stared up at her girlfriend of three years.

Kicking an innocent bin down to ground, Ashley sat on the closest bleacher finally giving in to the fact that her world was crashing down all around her. Her hands crazily smushing her face as if she were attempting to wake herself up from a nightmare.

"How could you do this to me?" Her voice no longer loud nor being grinded through teeth. It was calm and devastatingly heart broken. Ashley halted the assault on her face brought them down to rest on the cool metal below her. Her eyes lost, staring ahead into the darkened field.

Gina squeezed her eyes shut forcing more tears to come gushing out. She took in a sharp breath and slowly made her way to the bleachers, sitting down close enough but at a safe distance from Ashley. She opened and closed her mouth several times not being able to dig up the right words. "I…I don't-"

"Don't. Don't sit there and even begin to tell me that you _don't_ know how this happened or that you _didn't_ mean to." The vise that Ashley's hands held the metal bench in grew tighter and tighter with each word she spat out. "You obviously haven't been very honest with me lately so how 'bout you tell me the fucking truth for once? Hmm?"

"This-this isn't my fault! Okay? You-God, Ashley!-you confuse me so much!" Gina's hard and angry tone wasn't even enough to make Ashley look at her. What did cause her to face the other girl once more was the fact that she couldn't believe her ears.

"You cheat on me and somehow that's _my_ fault? Do you hear the shit you're saying Gina? My fucking God!" She was now back on her feet towering over the shaking blonde. "My fault-"

"How the hell do you want me to not doubt this," she motioned a hand back and forth between the two. "Us? When you don't even know where the hell you're going in life Ash?"

"Yo-You promised you didn't care how long it took me to get my shit together. As long as you knew I was trying-"

"I wouldn't care, Ashley, if you really were trying! You know I would follow you to the end of the world. But I can't follow you to a dead end. It breaks my heart but I just-I…I just can't, Ashley, I can't…"

Tears that had stopped for the tiniest moment returned. Slower this time but just as searing as before. "Is that what I am to you? A dead end?"

"Ash, y-you're flunking out of school. You don't care for college, you think you're gonna work at that stupid coffee house for the rest of your life. For God's sake you've been arrested five times this summer. And we-we've been together for three years-THREE YEARS, ASHLEY-and you still can't even refer to me as your girlfriend out loud. I mean, if you're that afraid of commitment just tell me so I can stop wasting my time-"

"AND THAT'S A DAMN REASON TO CHEAT ON ME WITH SOME HILLBILLY DUMBASS?"

"ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?" Gina was now standing face to face with Ashley. "Ash-"

"No, shut up. You listen to me." Her voice, surprising both Gina and herself, came out incredibly calm and steady. She fought back the rest of her tears, halting their outpour for the time necessary. "You think I've never had doubts about all that crap before? Of course, I have. But would I never do that to you. If it was that bad why couldn't you just talk to me? Huh?"

She looked deep into her eyes before not being to handle the reflection of herself in them. She looked so lost. Ashley brought her eyes to the ground for a few seconds before reaching into her back pocket. She pulled several folded up sheets of paper and tossing them down on the bench by Gina.

"What is this?" Gina reached her hand out to take the papers from their resting place.

"My progress report. I signed up for summer school before the school year ended. All those early ass shifts I told you about weren't really shifts. I was going to school. I just-I wanted to surprise you next month when I passed all those classes. I'm also taking online classes to make up the credits I'm missing. Oh, and here." She pulled out a crumpled receipt from another pocket. "I bought some books to study for the SAT's, you know, since I didn't take 'em last year. Figured I should. If you flip that paper over you'll see I jotted some phone numbers for tutors to help me out. All to prove to _you_ that I'm trying to go somewhere in life. For _us_. But it all seems so pointless now…"

Looking through the papers Gina felt everything beginning to crumble in and around her. She couldn't breathe and she couldn't bring her eyes to look away from all the different sheets of papers, that were outlining just how big of a mistake she'd made, to look at Ashley.

"And commitment? You wanna see commitment? I mean, three years didn't paint the fucking picture for you? I wanted to be with you and just you. Since the moment I met you…" Ashley pulled out the white velvet box from her sweater pocket and threw it down at the metal bench. It landed softly with a small thud between the two girls. "I was gonna..."

Ashley gripped the sleeves of her sweater tighter and bit down on her lip to keep from completely breaking down.

"All for us. For _you_. I promised you that I'd do something about my life…but, you didn't believe me. You promised me you'd never hurt me. And I believed you…"

Gina sat down slowly, eyes wide, tears streaming quietly down her face. Setting the papers down beside her, she reached a shaky hand out to grab the velvet box that was ripping her heart to shreds with each second it sat there.

"...God, Ashley-" Not being able to find her voice, she closed her eyes holding the box over her heart and she began to cry her heart out mumbling a million _"I'm sorry"s _out to Ashley. Gina sat there sobbing while Ashley simply stood there motionless. Her tears had stopped. And all of a sudden, everything began to feel so final.

She sniffled one last time before looking down at her sweater. Placing two hands at the hem, she lifted it over her head and discarded it somewhere on the bleachers near Gina.

"You can take that crap back. And here," pulling her wallet out she took out an old wrinkled picture of her and Gina on their first date three years back. "Something to remember me by. You can keep the box too, but this," she yanked the box from her hands, ignoring Gina's hands clawing to hold on to hers, fished out the ring, and threw the box onto her lap. "This ring? It's mine. Look at that box every damn day and just remember what you threw away."

"Baby, I'm so sorry." She stood up holding the box, the picture, and the sweater she'd bought Ashley for her birthday in her hands as she threw her arms around Ashley's neck to keep her from leaving. She hid her face in the crook Ashley's neck.

"I would have rearranged the stars for you Gina." It took everything within Ashley's being to reach her hands up and pry Gina's arms loose from around her. Their faces were so close that their noses were touching. "All you had to do was ask..."

Taking one last look at the girl before her, she let her arms drop at her sides and she stepped down from the bleachers finally making her way back to the taxi-cab.

"Ash...please...Ashley don't go!"

She plead to the moon alone for Ashley was more than halfway out of the field already not ever once bothering to look back at her.

"Please, don't leave me…"

The last light remaining turned off and she was left weeping into the night by herself. Pleas for the other girl to stay still spilling from her lips even though she was sure Ashley was gone.

* * *

Ashley walked through the gates and her swollen eyes landed on the cab. Surprised he was still waiting. She approached the passenger door and kicked it ever so lightly. The driver-who had grown tired of waiting and had fallen asleep-awoke mumbling something to himself. He blinked a few times before looking up and then back down at his wrist.

"A damn hour. I said hurry not-"

"And I said I'd pay you whatever it was I owed." She didn't care if he had absolutely nothing to do with the way she felt at the moment. She just couldn't hold her feelings in this time. Not this time. She pulled out her wallet and threw it inside the passenger seat.

"Take it and everything inside." She pulled the ring out of her pocket placing it carefully above the wallet. "Pawn it, sell it, keep it, feed it to your dog. I don't give a damn, just take it, alright?"

Ignoring the man's protests and offers to drive her home for free, she began walking down the scarcely lit roads. Not exactly wanting to hurry about getting home, she slowed her pace. This way, it would take her longer to get there. Home. You couldn't exactly call it that.


	2. Chapter 2

The rain that had ceased a couple of hours back-in a time when Ashley's heart was still intact-had picked up once more. Ashley, drenched from head to toe, stood several yards away from a slum three-story building. Her palms were resting flat against a fence that appeared as if its sole purpose was to separate the building's inhabitants from the rest of society. And not just for security reasons.

If you were to be walking down the street and, by chance, happened to pass by Templemead Estates the first thing to creep into your mind would be the word war zone. The whole building looked like as if it had survived the Blitz.

She gave the metal wires a final squeeze before releasing them in definite and began her ascent over the slippery fence. Ashley would have liked to use the gate entrance but-unfortunately for her and rest of the Templemead residents-some idiot had decided it would be simply hilarious to cement the gate legs down to the pavement.

She'd spent close to four hours walking around aimlessly after living through the unthinkable back at Madison. Part of her wondered if Gina was still occupying the bleachers, her tears by now probably blending in with the sky's own.

The other part frankly couldn't get the image of lightning coming down and striking her right where she sat. The latter obviously refusing to care for the blonde any longer.

Reaching the top, she swung one leg skillfully over the side and brought her foot down to be wedged in-between the diamond shaped patterns the crisscrossed wires formed. Gripping the metal tube tighter as she brought her other leg around, she felt an obtruding piece of wire dig deeply into her thigh.

"ARGHHH!"

Ashley's hands instinctively jerked away from the fence to clutch her wounded leg protectively. Her eyes widened as she realized in a matter of milliseconds that she'd thrown herself back and was now hurtling towards the muddy ground ten feet below. Landing with a quiet thud, she opened her eyes and simply lay there staring at how the seemingly tiny droplets would enlarge before hitting her face.

Regaining some feeling back into her spine, she swung her torso from side to side to help herself into a sitting position. Head spinning and body aching in more ways than one, she got on her feet and stumbled her way to the front door. After jiggling the keys three times inside the keyhole, she took a step back and thrust her right foot with all her might against the rusted door handle. A trick all the tenants at Templemead had been taught by the landlord before moving in. It was the only way to open the damn thing. The older tenants, like Mrs. Keenan from 115, simply stood at the door waiting for someone to come and kick the handle for them.

Ashley quickly moved out of the way as the door sprung open slamming against the adjacent wall before halting. It tended to always do that. She walked limply down the dimly lit hallway, took a left at the corner of 105 and continued walking until she was directly under the eternally burnt hall light. The flicker of a light a few steps away shone scarcely any light over the numbers 128 carved on the graying door before her. The metal tag having fallen long ago.

Knowing full well no one ever locked their doors in this building-after all, who would want to rob _them_?-she reached a small hand and turned the old doorknob. The first thing to reach her senses was the stench of cheap alcohol followed by a waft of God-knows-how-old urine. When intoxicated, her father had a tendency of pissing anywhere _but_ the toilet.

Knowing her way professionally around the sardine-can sized apartment, she didn't even bother to turn the barely there lights on. Barely there because if you turned a flashlight on you'd have a greater chance of getting a larger amount of light than you would by turning on the apartment lights.

There were only two rooms in the house: the one to the left was their bathroom and the one to the right was a bedroom that she shared with her fourteen year old brother. There used to be a third room that her parents shared before their divorce-if you could even call it that-almost three years ago. But, now that room was nowhere to be found. Soon after the "divorce", her father had gotten piss drunk one night and brought home pounds and pounds of cement from work. He'd worked night and day for an entire week to seal up the door.

Not bothering to remove her wet clothes nor her shoes, Ashley pushed past the bedroom door and flopped down on the bed. Not really a bed. More like a dirty smelly futon to lay on.

"Owww, g'dammit."

She rolled over onto her side and pushed the empty old beer cans off of her bed. With clinks and clanks they settled themselves on the wooden floor. Usually, beer cans on her bed meant her dad was home. This brought her out from the twilight zone that occurs between sleep and reality. Her eyes snapped open and she bolted up into a sitting position. She hadn't thought about her dad. Chances were he was passed out on the couch. His bed. She hadn't bothered to look. She wondered were her little brother was. A rustling in the corner farthest from bedroom door made her run up to the door and flick the light switch on.

There, huddled in a heap and hugging his knees to his chest, sat her fourteen year old brother. The erratic movement of his shoulders signaled to her that he was crying.

"Gage?" No response, just more crying. "Gage, what are you doing?"

She crossed the room and knelt down in front of him, bringing her hand to lift his chin up. His brown eyes, identical to hers, shone bright with tears. A bruise the size of a fist-a fist she recognized and knew all too well-was beginning to form under his left eye.

"God…Gage. What did you do?" She whispered.

"Nothing, Ash. I-I...mm I just..."

He only pointed a shaking finger towards the beat up computer that sat pleasantly next to the head of her bed. Crawling the short distance over there, she shook the mouse to wake the sleeping machine. Her eyes widened and her heart fell as the video before her eyes came to life. It was an old video that had since been uploaded onto the computer by Ashley. It was of her parents on their wedding day twenty years ago.

When their mother left, their father had made sure to seal all of her memories-pictures, videos, etc.-away in the now cemented room. Gage, only eleven at the time, had been inconsolable. He missed his mommy and he now had no pictures to remember her by. Ashley, having read her father's intentions of doing away with anything related to his ex-wife, had nabbed the videotape labeled _Brett & Lauren's Wedding_ from the drawer that her mother always used to stash her dearest souvenirs in and stuffed it under her futon for safe keeping.

When her father finally went into work after finishing his reconstruction at home, she'd uploaded it to her computer and showed it to Gage. The way his eyes lit up as his mom's face shone through the screen was enough to make it al worth it for Ashley. Should Brett ever find this video was still in existence, she would gladly take the heat for it. As long as it managed to return the light to her little brother's eyes every now and then, it was all worth it.

"He. .." He inhaled sharply, closing his eyes as he attempted to steady his breathing. "He walked in w-when it was just starting an-an-and.."

Gage let out a strangled sob before getting crawling over to where his sister sat. This time around though, his eyes were trained anywhere but on the monitor roaring to life displaying a slew of a scenes that portrayed a once happy couple. He lay his body down on the floor with his head coming down to rest on the futon. The back of his hands being used to wipe away his tears.

"He was already drunk and, I-I don't know, I guess his day wasn't so good. H-he told me to wait for him right here."

Ashley looked from the screen up to her little brother and back down. She clicked the red 'x' at the top corner and-shutting the monitor off-she turned to Gage placing a hand on each of his shoulders.

"Gage, where did he go?"

"D-Don's."

"Shit, c'mon. We gotta go." She rushed out breathlessly. The pounding in her chest had returned.

Growing up she'd come to learn that uncle Don's synonymous with Satan's lair. Hell, Don's was probably scarier. At least it was to the Davies kids. Don was Brett's-Ashley's father-older brother. He owned a leather repair shop a block away from Templemead and always gave his baby brother the toughest belts-one time it had even been a whip-to force some discipline into his kids. God had been kind enough to make it so that Don was incapable of ever reproducing.

She reached for Gage's hand and brought him up along with her to stand on his feet. Ashley reached above the window sill and snatched her car keys from the white marble. The car was busted but it still ran. Turning to face the door to make their hasty escape, Ashley was met by a hand big enough to cover her whole face shoving her back against her bed. On her way down she heard Gage screaming.

She landed atop a remaining can that awaited her with it's shredded metal to slice into the skin on her forearm upon contact. Shaking off the minor sting, she hopped up on to her feet and looked around. Brett and Gage were nowhere to be found. She heard a piercing scream and whimpering followed by shouting.

"Boy, shut your ass up!"

Dashing out of her room and running out into the kitchen, Ashley saw her dad holding a jar of scalding water above the young boy.

"YOU WANNA CRY LIKE A LITTLE BITCH? I'M GIVE YOU A REAL REASON TO!"

"BRETT, GET THE HELL OFF HIM!" She threw herself, head first against her dad's stomach knocking herself-as well as Brett and Gage-down to the kitchen's tiled floor. To add to the pain to her leg, her back, and the gash on her arm, she felt the water splash onto her skin as the jar hit the ground.

"ARGHH!"

"DA! UM SORRY!" In between the sobbing and the screaming, Ashley was barely able to make out what Gage was saying.

From the two identical screams, she figured the water had splashed on the them as well.

"You stupid bitch." She heard him growl dangerously low. The lower he talked the more she actually feared him. Growling reminded her of pitbulls. She didn't like pitbulls. She preferred it when he shouted. Bringing her up on all fours by her hair, he kneed her in the face.

"Dad, stop!" Gage shouted from his corner in the kitchen.

Adrenaline rushed through every part of her body and she was up on her feet. She turned around and began to swing blindly at Brett's body. She made contact once a the same time the he uppercut her. It felt like she hit his face. Both of the elder Davies' stopped and began attempting to regulate their breathing. Both placing their hands to rest somewhere above their knees as they crouched.

Looking up from his hunched over position, Brett called out to her. "Teach you to touch a man, dyke."

"Fuck you." She couldn't help the smirk crossing her face.

Knocking Gage out of the way, he lunged forward as she ducked beneath him. Turning on the ground before he could, she kicked her feet forward and knocked his legs out from under him. She crawled on top of his chest and pinned him down with bother her knees digging into his ribs.

"What happened bitch?" She growled down at the man who claimed to be her father. She raised her fists and brought them down three times to smash into his face before Brett gripped both of her wrists with a giant hand. He smiled, bearing two matching rows of yellow teeth.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?"

Ashley's eyes grew wide with fear as she felt her weight shift. Before she could even blink she found their positions reversed. Now, Brett was on top and she was on the bottom. The cool tiles below were actually quite soothing to her scalding back.

_Thud!_

Hard to say the same when your skull's being permanently smashed into it though. Brett raised his bear-claw of a hand and continuously brought it down on Ashley's being. He only stopped when enough blood was shed to fill two whole I.V. bags.

This was the part Ashley enjoyed the most. Where her brain is conscious enough to register that she's getting beat within inches of her life, but her body's just too out of it to feel any more physical pain. This was when she knew it was all almost over. All that was left to do was for her to pass out. Although, Brett was the type of man to kick you when you're down, he would never hit an opponent if they weren't awake to attempt to defend themselves. He was noble like that.

She could hardly keep the defeated smile from forming on her bloodied lips. For the most part, her vision was almost entirely impaired and her hearing was somewhat similar to that of being underwater and hearing voices from above the surface.

"…hopoo lug bels…" That was the only thing her mind was able to register. What Brett actually said was _hope you love belts_.

She heard metal coming undone before a whip-like thing struck her across the stomach. Soon, everything went black and her body surrendered to unconsciousness.

* * *

Coming to was the part she hated the most. Where you begin to feel every sore and ache in your body. Not to mention you had to come to terms with the fact that you had just gotten the crap beaten out of you. By your father none the less.

Opening her right eye-the left one was too swollen to even attempt to open a smidgen-she was met by light blazing into her cornea making her head sear with pain.

Snapping her eye shut immediately, she decided to try and lift a heavy head from the ground instead. One inch separated cranium from tile before two sets of hands forced her back down. Both sets of hands held a gentle touch and a sense of familiarity to her; although one set, at the moment, wasn't desired in the least bit. Dismissing the fact that she'd probably increase the already intense throbbing in her head, she ripped her one capable eye open and waited several seconds for the blurry images to come into focus.

"What the hell…are _you_ doing here?"

Gina-reaper of dreams-was kneeling over her. Worry filled her blood-shot eyes. Ashley's question, however, was answered by her brother's squeaky voice.

"I thought-well I was worried about you and you weren't waking up so-so, I thought it would be a good idea to call Gina-"

"_Bad._ Idea Gage-"

"He said you were calling out my name while you were still out..." Gina had her eyes trained on the ground as she spoke.

"Oh, really?" Ashley was now throwing venomous looks at her brother while he tried not to look her directly in the eyes. "You sure I didn't say the words bitch or trash somewhere in there too?"

"Ash, maybe you should just talk-"

"Gage, shut the hell up."

The young boy recoiled at the tone in his sister's voice. She turned back to Gina who still refused to look at directly her.

"I don't want to see you. I don't want to talk to you. I don't even want to breathe the same air as you right now. If there's an ounce of decency left inside of you, you'll get the hell out of my house."

"No." Gina, her voice breaking slightly, gripped Ashley's shoulders tighter hoping she would stop being so stubborn. "Ash..."

Not being able to find the words to express how she felt, Gina began to open and close her mouth like a fish out of water. "Please. Let's-let's just talk. Please." Ashley stopped trying to pry Gina's hawk-like clutch on her shoulders and locked chocolate orbs with saddened green pools.

"Alright. Let's talk." She saw Gina's eyes light up the tiniest bit with that certain brightness they always held.

"Baby, I-" She was cut off by the other girl.

"I meant, me talk and you listen. And stop fucking calling me baby. 'Cause you obviously don't get it." There was nothing kind in her voice and, noticing this, Gina's eyes darkened once more as the smile that had begun to form fell from her lips. "I don't care why you cheated, I don't care how sorry you are. I could care less if you feel like you can't live without me. All I know, is that you gave someone else that part of you that I thought only belonged to me."

"Ashley, he meant-"

"Nothing. Yeah, to you maybe. To me? He meant everything. I mean, that's exactly what he took from me. _My_ everything."

For once in her life, Ashley allowed a tear to roll down her face without caring who was there to see it or without making an attempt to wipe it off before it even slipped more than an inch away from her eye. Her voice no longer rough with anger, but so delicate that it broke with every word she spoke. Her eyes now reflected Gina's own. Based on instinct to protect _her _everything, Gina released one of Ashley's shoulders and laced their hands together.

"No," Ashley ripped their hands apart. "_You_ don't get to comfort me anymore. If you really do love me, then let me forget about _whatever_ it was we had."

The trio remained in unwanted silence for all of two seconds before Ashley hopped to her feet, wobbling back and forth before stabilizing herself. "You know what… you're not leaving so..."

Without finishing her sentence, Ashley began heading for the door and only stopped to check that she still had her car keys from earlier. She continued to limp away towards the front door upon finding the metal still in her pocket. Neither Gage nor Gina attempting to stop her.

Both for different reasons. One of them, out of knowledge that the older girl needed her space after an episode like that. The other, out of knowledge that it was all truly over. No second chance in the dark horizon.

* * *

The radio clock in Ashley's car-surprisingly able to still fully function-flashed the digits _4:45_. She'd been driving around Seattle for the past, almost, two hours. As she was halfway down a deserted bridge, she began to slow down until finally parking the car adjacent to the guardrails.

Empty eyes stared out at the dark body of water that stretched out from beneath the bridge and extended out until it seemed to blend with the black sky. She turned the key and killed the engine. Her hands immediately covering her face as the night's events flashed before her eyes.

Out of frustration, Ashley brought her hands up in the air before slamming them down on the steering wheel over and over again. She opted to simply get out of the car and continue on foot to wherever the hell it was she was headed. The crash that her boss's son had been involved in with her car-the one time she decided to be generous with her car and it bit her in the ass-had left a rather impressive dent on the driver's side. This forced Ashley to have to push with all her might-what little of it she had left-against the door to be able to open it. With a rather disturbing noise of metal scraping metal, the door sprung open leaving Ashley to fall onto the gravel.

"Fuck!"

She closed her eyes tight. For the umpteenth time that day she felt a surge of pain rush through her body. Below her on the gravel road were the remains of a smashed glass bottle. Shards lay scattered all over the place. Ashley's hands, having flown out in front of her as a reflex, were now shaking hard against the pavement. Palms covered in glass and blood.

She inhaled sharply and maneuvered herself into a sitting position. Back against the dented metal of her car, legs stretched out in front of her and hands laying limp on her thighs, she felt uncontrollable sobs beginning to rack through her tiny frame. The overwhelming feeling that nothing in her life was right being too much for her to handle at the moment.

"Are you alright?" The silky voice that reached her ears in the night's whisper making her head snap up.

Ashley felt her lids close and open slowly. Too slowly. Almost as if in slow motion. There, bending down close to where she sat, was the blonde from the café. The one she'd refused to serve. The light from the lamp post over head casting a strange glow around her head. It looked like a halo floating over her head and it was making her look like an angel.

She opened her mouth to say something. Nothing but a strangled noise came out and she hung her head, tears beginning to flow once more. She felt a soft hand underneath her chin forcing her head upwards. Light shone on Ashley's face and she heard the blonde gasp in horror.

"Oh, my God!"

Taking in the brunette's appearance, she dropped her hand from it's place under her chin and took a step back. Her left eye was swollen to the point where it was impossible to see out of. She was bleeding from her eyebrow, arm, and mouth. The specks of blood that were seeping through her denim covered thigh and t-shirt clad stomach definitely did not go unnoticed.

Ashley focused her eyesight on the guardrails straight across from her on the other side of the bridge. She notice her vision beginning to blur along the edges. Her hearing was once more beginning to resemble that of being underwater.

Her head grew heavy and she could have sworn she heard the blonde shout out directions to someone through her phone. Her voice seemed very distressed and it cracked in several parts of the conversation.

"Please, hurry!" That was the last thing Ashley could remember hearing before her world was engulfed in darkness all over again.


	3. Chapter 3

_Seattle, Washington._

_5:05 AM._

Ashley felt the throbbing in her head return as she regained consciousness. The noise around her getting clearer and clearer. A soft voice calling out her name caught her attention forcing her to open her one good eye.

"Ashley?" A chocolate pool met with two matching blue orbs. "Oh, God. Just hang on a bit longer. The ambulance should be here pretty soon."

The brunette screwed her eyes shut and shook her head.

"No. No, no, no. No ambulances. No-no hospitals, I'm-I'm fine."

As if trying to make her point, Ashley willed her body to ignore each ache and sore and got herself on all fours. She disregarded the blonde's protests and shook off the warm hand trying to push her back down. She took in a deep breath and used every ounce of strength left in her to push herself off the ground and onto her feet. Her body swayed dangerously for several seconds before she turned around and placed her hands flat on her car for support.

"See? _Fine._"

"No, you're not. You need…you need to sit down and wait for the ambulance-"

"NO!" Ashley cringed at the sound of her own voice. The echoing scream made the throbbing in her head intensify. "Look, lady. I appreciate what you're trying to do," she paused inhaling sharply, "but I can't afford an ambulance and I sure as hell can't pay for medical care-"

"Then let _me _take care of it."

"Thanks, but no thanks. I'm not a charity case."

Ashley was caught off guard by the disgruntled noise coming from the blonde behind her. She turned around-hands still resting firmly onto the car door-and took in the older girl's expression. She looked a little put off. A frown marking her beautiful features; the baby blues were now an icy color.

"Are you always this fucking stubborn? You are obviously seriously hurt and you need to get looked at!"

The brunette looked down shaking her head and letting out a disbelieving sigh.

_Am I really getting bitched at right now?_

She felt like throwing her head back, face to the sky, and screaming at the top of her lungs. After a day like this, how could she possibly be getting bitched at right now? She decided against screaming into the winds and faced the blonde.

"Are you always this fucking persistent? I mean, honestly? From-from earlier, what exactly made you think I was a-a-a walk in the park?"

"Look, I don't know what the hell happened to you. But you look like shit. I'm just trying to help you out-"

"Why? What does it matter to you?" Her anger seemed to dissipate for an instant causing her voice to lose its edge and instead come out sounding desperate. The day before her was haunting her mind, making her terribly irritable. She couldn't control her emotions any longer. All she wanted to do right now was run. Run where to exactly she had no idea. All she knew was that she no longer wanted to be here. The blonde a few feet away was the only thing standing in her way.

"I-I…I don't know. I, uh, I just feel like I need to help you." The blonde's voice, also losing its roughness, came out as a quite confession. Ashley took a second to study the blonde, she seemed as lost and confused as she felt. And for some unknown reason, that scared the crap out of her.

"And you don't seem to understand. Again, I sincerely appreciate what you're trying to do, but I don't need a bunch of assholes in the ER asking me what happened. It's none of their business and it sure as hell isn't yours." She gritted her teeth. "So butt. The fuck out."

Ashley felt the slightest twinge of remorse as she saw the girl's face fall the smallest bit. However, the blonde quickly recovered and her eyes once again held a mean expression.

"You know what? Fine. Fine!" She was now walking backwards. Back in the direction of what Ashley assumed was her car. "Go. Run along if you want. Screw trying to help you out-"

"Yeah? Well, fuck you!"

"THANKS!"

"NO, THANK _YOU_!"

Ashley turned her back on her and began to limp the rest of the way down the bridge. Her trembling hands reaching up to wipe the tears that so badly wanted to run free. A few steps later, she heard a car door slam and an engine roar to life. She willed herself not to look over her shoulder.

_Who does that bitch think she is?_

She picked up her pace and dug her shaky hands into the bottom of her jeans pocket. She could still hear the car but it didn't seem to be going anywhere. She didn't hear the screeching of tires as it peeled off. Nothing. She reached the end of the bridge and stepped onto the sidewalk. Following it until reaching a corner and then turning to her left to go down a dimly lit street...

* * *

"UGH!"

Spencer Carlin brought her fists down to slam them on her steering wheel. She couldn't believe that girl's attitude.

"Who does that bitch think she is?"

She stretched her arms out before her, her hands gripping the steering wheel tightly as she pushed the rest of her body back into the cushioned car seat. Her head lolled back softly against the plush head rest. Part of her brain told her she should have followed her down the bridge, that there was no way in hell the brunette would make it very far in the state she was in. The other part said screw her, you tried helping her.

She straightened out her neck and turned her head, slightly, chancing a glance at the car radio. _5:19._ It had barely just dawned on her that she had been wandering around the city for close to twenty-four hours. She was staying in a hotel and she wasn't exactly a fan of them. It didn't scream _home_ to her, an aspect that made it hard for her to sleep there.

She let out a long exhausted breath and brought her left hand up to run over her face. She couldn't seem to get the brunette's saddened eyes out of her mind's eye. Something that had been bothering her since before the meeting on the bridge. She'd been thinking about the younger girl since bumping heads with her at the café. She didn't even know why. The girl-Ashley was her name-was like one of those annoying but catchy songs that seem to have absolutely no point to them but end up getting stuck in your head anyways.

The sound of a rushed siren getting closer and closer brought her out of her nagging thoughts. She looked out her window and into the side mirror.

_The ambulance._

There was no need for it now, Ashley was long gone. She didn't feel like sticking around to explain to the paramedics how the victim had run off and their services were no longer needed. They tended to get cranky when called for no reason.

"Like hell I'm staying." Spencer quickly put the car in drive and sped off down the bridge. The rain had picked up once more causing her car to skid the slightest as she reached a stop-light. She turned her blinker on-purely out of habit seeing as the road was deserted-and took a left at the corner heading down a dimly lit street…

* * *

Much like a goonie never said die, Ashley Davies never said quit. It just wasn't part of her vocabulary. Nor was quitting part of her actions. She was lazy, yes. But, certainly not a quitter. However, that day seemed to prove to be too much, even for her.

Having given up on trying to find somewhere she could spend the night (another highlight of the night was remembering she had no friends, at least no close ones) she now stood in the middle of the road staring off into the flashing lights of the city. Fat raindrops falling on and all around her. Once again, she found herself alone and soaked from head to toe.

She looked down in time to see lights reflecting on the gravel road, signaling a car coming closer to where she stood. The lights grew brighter and Ashley made no effort to scurry from her spot. She didn't even flinch. Her eyes simply remained on the illuminated road below her, not even bothering to look over her shoulder as she heard breaks screech. The battle between four-wheel drive and wet road ensued.

Congratulations Subaru.

The car came to a terrifying halt about two feet before it hit Ashley. She remained unmoving and could barely keep the small chuckle from escaping her lips as she thought of the driver. They were probably having a _Hitcher_ moment right about now. She heard the all too familiar dinging followed by the slamming of a car door coming from the automobile as someone-quite possibly the driver-stepped out.

"Are you _out _of your FUCKING mind?"

A high-pitched girly, and very frightened, voice reached her ears. The laughter from earlier finally came through as she recognized that voice.

_Well, fuck me._

Rapid splashing was heard as the girl rushed forward from her car, only stopping once she stood in front of Ashley.

The blonde's eyes widened ten times more than they already were. She feared that she was risking them getting stuck that way. They weren't wide from anger though, no. She was confused.

"W-w. What the hell are you doing? You're just standing there!" No response. "I almost hit you!"

Her breathing, still erratic, was the only thing you could hear at the scene. Ashley was entirely unresponsive. Not even whimpers came from her broken being. Spencer's eyes roamed over the girl. Her wet clothes clung tightly to her small frame. Her eyes held a far off look, something you might see when coming face to face with someone who has taken one too many drugs for far too long. Blood from different body parts seemed to mix with the falling rain that slipped down her body.

The rain, having picked up ten-fold by now, was making it hard to see. Through thick droplets, Spencer saw a broken smile spread through Ashley's face. It was the most unsettling smile and it broke Spencer's heart. Ashley finally looked up and met her eyes.

"I was kinda hoping you were a semi…"

Spencer narrowed her eyes at her.

_Your ass should be in a nut house. _

Ashley could no longer keep everything from pouring out. It was inevitable. As if a giant imaginary hand had enclosed around her torso, her breath was squeezed out of her and it was only seconds before she began sobbing into her hands.

The blonde was caught off guard at the scene before her. She felt a tightening around her chest as she couldn't but feel sorry for the girl before her. Ashley looked like a sad baby who wanted nothing more than to be comforted by the arms of her mother or father. Or just someone, anyone, who cared.

She figured she had two options in which she could go about handling the situation. She could get back in her car and leave the girl, who had obviously wanted no help what-so-ever earlier, standing here in the middle of the road and maybe she _would_ be put out of her misery by an oncoming truck.

Or, she could simply offer her help once more. And maybe, Spencer hoped deep down, Ashley would accept it this time. The blonde shut her eyes tightly and ran a shaky hand through golden locks. She'd made up her mind.

She let out a breath she hadn't even been aware she'd been holding in and took some steps towards Ashley, closing the gap between them by swinging one arm safely around the girls slumped shoulders. Surprisingly, to both girls, no attempt to push her away was made by Ashley. The older girl spun her in her car's direction and slowly began guiding her towards the passenger's door. Loud dinging was heard again as she opened the door and carefully helped the quiet brunette into her seat. She reached into the backseat groping around for a blanket which she pulled forward and covered Ashley with after making sure she was buckled in.

The door was slammed shut and she took a second to take some deep breaths, looking in both directions of the long road, before running to the other side of her car to the driver's side. She put the machine in drive for the third time that night and sped off into the dark once more. Only this time, the younger girl (that seemed to be in most of her thoughts throughout the day) was riding shotgun. With _her_.

* * *

Half an hour later, both girls found themselves still driving around the sleeping city. No words had been exchanged nor had the attempt at initiating conversation been made. She kept sneaking glances at the other occupant in the car every now and then.

Ashley was curled up into a ball in her seat, knees brought up to her chest; tightly held in place by her arms wrapped around them. The blanket from earlier still keeping her warm and her head was now resting on the rain-covered window as she stared off into space.

She rolled her eyes getting fed up with hearing nothing but white noise for the past half hour.

"You hungry?" She asked Ashley as she turned into the parking lot of a string of small outlet stores and restaurants. She turned her keys and moved to face the girl as the engine died off. Ashley rolled her head to one side to be able to face the driver. The blonde was surprised to see an amused look on her face.

"It's six in the morning." She deadpanned.

"Sooo? I know this place that's open 24-hours."

"I bet _you_ do."

_Was that a joke?_

The blonde broke out into a soft smile as she looked out at the girl who quickly climbed out of the car and stood next to it waiting for her to follow suit. She grabbed her phone and keys and stepped outside. She placed her hands flat on the roof of the car and rested her head atop them, studying Ashley as she reached her hands above her head and stretched with her eyes closed.

Ashley made a content noise as her back cracked. She quickly brought her arms back down to her sides, as she felt a pair of eyes staring at her. Feeling self-conscious, she looked over at the blonde with a hint of red making itself seen on her cheeks.

"What?"

Ashley seemed so small standing there with her hands tucked safely inside her pants' pockets. A shy expression sketched on her features. She simply smiled and shook her head at Ashley. Ashley nodded her head and looked down at her feet feeling nervous all of a sudden.

"Hey," Spencer whispered getting her attention. "I'm sorry about…"

Half-way through she decided that if Ashley was back to talking, this wasn't the best moment to bring up an unwanted conversation topic. "..bugging you. Earlier, at the café. I just…_really_ wanted something to eat."

Ashley searched her eyes with her own for a few seconds before nodding slowly. She wasn't stupid. She knew she was about to say something else completely unrelated to their initial meeting at _Amore Mio_. She was grateful that she'd decided to drop it at the last second.

_Maybe she wasn't so dense after all._

The older girl smiled at her and made her way around the car to join the brunette.

* * *

"Can I please have-"

"Is she alright?"

She was interrupted by the man on the other side of the counter as she was about to give him their orders. She looked over her shoulder towards where the man was looking. She spotted Ashley sitting at a table facing them, an annoyed look on her face.

_Why couldn't people just mind their own business? Was it really that out of the ordinary now a days to have a bloodied up teenager sitting in plain sight?_

Ashley sure as hell didn't think so.

"She, um-" Spencer racked her brains for something to draw the attention away from the girl. "You know Taste of Chaos?"

He threw her a confused look before nodding quickly.

"Yeah, well…"

"_That _happened at Taste of Chaos?" He question disbelievingly.

The blonde gave him a sly smile. "_Insanely _rough mosh pits this year."

He seemed to buy what she was selling as he looked past the girl at the counter and towards Ashley, giving her a once over. "Yeah. I would say so."

* * *

Finally having their food and drinks, the two girls sat quietly occupying a window-side booth.

"Soo…you're not gonna tell me what happened?" Her curiosity had gotten the best of her and she couldn't help it as the question slipped past her lips. She hoped that if she asked a third time then maybe Ashley would give in. No chance. Ashley gave a small chuckle and popped a fry into her mouth. She at least seemed to be in a better mood.

"Nooope."

"Ugh, fine." Spencer threw her hands up dramatically and went back to nursing her coffee.

The brunette leaned back in the booth and stared at the girl across from her. She hadn't given herself a chance to really study her. Her staring seemed to unsettle the older girl. A fact that brought a satisfied smile to play on Ashley's lips.

She was brought out of her daze as she remembered something from earlier. "Hey, how did you know my name?"

Ashley watched as a light blush spread across her face and she cleared her throat before speaking. "Oh, um. Well, when you were unconscious I kinda peaked at your wallet." She ducked her head in shame. "Sorry."

Ashley laughed. More at herself than at her.

"What?" The blonde asked amused. She liked the sound of Ashley's laughter.

"No, uh, nothing." She was relieved by her answer. Ashley was would be too embarrassed to admit it to the other girl, but for a second, she had believed that the blonde was her guardian angel. Dropped down straight from heaven to rescue her exactly as she'd done. Or something like that crap.

"So, um, can I know _your_ name?"

She smiled at the Ashley's shy tone. "It's Spencer. Spencer Carlin."

"Spencer? Hmm. I had dog named Spencer once. He got nailed by a car." Spencer gave Ashley a funny look.

"That's…horrible."

Both girls broke out into small waves of chuckles after that. Only stopping when they caught each others gaze, neither seemingly able to look away. Or just simply not wanting to.

The chiming of a clock nearby caught Ashley's attention and made Spencer clear her throat as Ashley looked away and towards the time being displayed on the clock. A hint of sadness lit up in her chocolate eyes before she let out small scoff.

Spencer caught this and looked at her hard. "What? What's wrong?"

"It's-um-it's _7:05_. June 20."

Spencer was lost. "Sooo…?"

Ashley looked down at the cup of coffee in her own hands and began to fidget with the white plastic lid. "Sooo…it's my birthday."


End file.
